Guides
Run a virtual tour at a trade show with no Wi-Fi
Conference Wi-Fi fails, and booth traffic is the worst possible time to find out. Download the tour to the device that will present it, and run the whole show with the connection off.
To show a 360° virtual tour at a trade show with no internet, open the tour on the device that will present it — the booth laptop, tablet or headset — while you still have a connection, and switch on the Offline toggle. Check that Downloaded projects on that device reports “Ready offline”, then present with the Wi-Fi off. The tour runs from local storage, there is no app to install on any device, and visitors need no account.
Three steps, done before you travel
Download on the device that will present
Open the tour on the actual booth laptop, tablet or headset while you still have a connection, and switch on the Offline toggle. Offline storage belongs to the browser that downloaded it, so a tour saved on your desk machine is not on the booth iPad.
Confirm it says Ready offline
Open Downloaded projects on that device. “Ready offline” means the tour’s files and the viewer itself are stored and protected from being cleared. The check runs with no connection, so you can confirm it in the taxi rather than at the stand.
Present with the Wi-Fi off
Put the device in airplane mode and open your downloaded tours. Do this once before you travel — it is the only way to know for certain, and it takes a minute.
Offline storage is per device and per browser — repeat this on every device you plan to present from.
Why this works on a stand
Any device on the stand
The same tour link downloads into a laptop, a tablet, a phone or a Meta Quest browser. Nothing to install and nothing to sideload on any of them.
Nothing to install for visitors
A visitor picking up the headset or tablet just looks around. There is no app, no store account and no setup between them and the tour.
Narration comes with it
Background music and per-scene audio are part of the offline download, so a narrated walkthrough still plays with the connection off.
Hand it to a colleague
Anyone holding the share link can download it to their own device, so a second stand or a travelling colleague is not dependent on yours.
Survives a bad venue
Once downloaded, congress Wi-Fi, a crowded hall or a basement stand stops being your problem — nothing is fetched during the demo.
Honest readiness
The device tells you what is actually stored rather than assuming. If something is missing it says so, before you are standing in front of a visitor.
The one thing that catches people out
Downloading on your own machine and assuming the stand device has it. Offline storage belongs to the browser that did the download — there is no account-wide sync of downloaded tours. Whatever hardware is on the table, do the download on that hardware, and open it once in airplane mode before you leave. For headsets specifically, see showing a tour offline on Meta Quest.
Questions
How do I show a virtual tour at a trade show with no internet?
Open the tour on the device that will present it while you still have a connection and switch on the Offline toggle to download it. Then open Downloaded projects on that device and check it says “Ready offline”. From that point the tour opens and runs from local storage with the connection off — on a laptop, tablet, phone or a Meta Quest, with nothing installed on any of them.
Can I download it on my laptop and present from the booth tablet?
No, and this is the mistake worth avoiding. Offline storage belongs to the browser profile that did the download, so a tour saved on your laptop lives on your laptop. Download it separately on each device you intend to present from — the booth tablet, the spare tablet and the headset each need their own copy.
What is actually stored, and what needs a connection?
Stored: the 360° panoramas including the resolution variants the device requests, hotspot navigation between scenes, floor plans, 2D views, nadir patches, and audio — both background music and per-scene ambient sound. Not stored: animated panoramas, retouches, snapshots, 360° spins, masterplans, 3D models and Gaussian splats. Those are hidden while offline rather than shown broken, so plan a stand demo around the 360° tour itself.
Do visitors need an account or an app?
No. Once the tour is downloaded to the device, a visitor simply picks it up and looks around. You need to be signed in on that device to perform the download itself, which is a one-time step done before the show; the offline library opens afterwards with no connection.
Does this work on a Meta Quest headset?
Yes, through the Quest browser rather than a store app — do the download in the headset that will present, since the storage is per-device. There is a dedicated walkthrough at vimmersa.com/guides/offline-vr-tours-meta-quest covering the headset specifics, including bookmarking your offline library so it is one tap on the stand.
How much time should I leave before the show?
Do the download and the airplane-mode test the day before, not on the morning of. A large tour takes a while to download and you want a connection available if something needs re-fetching. The readiness check needs no connection, so you can re-confirm on the way.
Take the tour, leave the Wi-Fi
Free to start. Download it once, present it anywhere.